One too many Brokeback Jokes

Now who's in big trouble, mister!

//lame

Drugs are bad, kids.

1.  "I read he died in his own place, but if he was in the Olsen Twins apartment, that makes it even stranger/funnier."  
I agree with the stranger part.  I'm not sure why his death, in and of itself, would be funny at all.

2.  "He finally found a way to quit Jake Gyllenhall...  Too soon?"  (And various comments that immediately preceded it.)  
First of all, I think 99% of the time that's a rhetorical question, and everyone knows it's too soon.  The phrase sounds like a cutesy cover of the fact that the 'joke' is inappropriate.

Secondly, it sounds as though he's being mocked for homosexuality.  Most of you realize he wasn't gay, and it was just a movie role.  So why are all the jokes about this role?  Because it's easy I guess, and/or because you find something innately funny about homosexuality.  Neither attitude do I understand.    

3. "Sacred cows are the kiss of death.  The second you decide that something is off limits, then every joke you've ever made is offensive."
With all respect for Mr. Parker, that sounds like a very convenient cop-out.  Slippery-slope arguments almost never hold up.  There's a line, and the vast majority of us know when it's been crossed ("too soon?").  I think we all know how we can avoid hurting most people's feelings.  If you're not interested in making that effort, because you have this very easy joke to make, I don't agree with that.

4. "That said... joking is, in a way, a manner of dealing with tragic news....  It's a shame, but let's not take what happened too personal."  
There are a lot of other ways to deal with tragedy without offending anyone.  And my understanding is that most of the people making jokes were unaffected by Ledger's death, so why the need for jokes?  And the last sentence is just wrong, as though no one should feel differently than you, and no one should be bothered by jokes at the expense of someone who died so recently.

5.  "150,000+ people die every single day. If you want to take them all seriously you'll go mental."  
Uh, no you won't.  I think we can all get by without making jokes about someone's death, and no one will end up in an asylum.  There are plenty of things to laugh at in this world.  We can afford to be selective.  And if you think someone dying is a good opportunity to make some jokes at his expense, I think it would be better if you shared that joke with a controlled audience - not the internet.  

6. "To me though, his death is no more important that any other death that happened yesterday."  I'd prefer you didn't make jokes about anyone who died yesterday.  

7. "It is quite tragic considering that he would be willing to throw his life away with drugs... people who die from overdose do not deserve my sorrow (if that really is the case)."  
Well, as you point out, you don't know if he died from an overdose.  I'm assuming you mean intentional overdose, and that you'll see it as a tragedy if it turns out to be a bad mix of prescriptions or accidental.  I would think the lack of info would be all the more reason to hold off.  

Let me say, these comments aren't intended personally - I didn't really note the authors of the various comments I quoted.  I guess the easy response to all my bitching is that I didn't have to read it, and maybe there's some validity to that.  But I didn't know what it was until I read it.  

Personally, Ledger's death hasn't really affected me emotionally.  I thought it was sad, I guess, him being a father and all.  I just thought this thread was a little crass.  I'll shut up now.

http://www.digg.com/business_finance/Best_Buy_Cashes_in_on_Heath_Ledger_s_Death

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What kind of shitty name is Vanderzanden?  No wonder he's a rotting corpse!

Too soon?